Aquinas College students who participate in one of AQ's international programs are given the opportunity to learn about and experience first-hand a unique part of our world. Often, this experience marks the first time students have spent time outside the United States, choosing to visit such locales as Costa Rica, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, and Ireland. Students who have participated in these programs can return with new perspectives. Now, in a celebration of the AQ study abroad trip to Ireland, Aquinas students, will be given the opportunity to experience a taste of Irish culture without leaving the campus.

On October 29, at 8 p.m., Aquinas College will host a public recital of Irish playwright John Synge’s “The Aran Islands.” “Islands,” written in 1901 and published six years later, recounts Synge’s experiences living on the Aran Islands off Ireland’s western coast. Through dramatic reading, images of the spirit of the Aran Islands - the environment, the culture, and the lifestyles of its inhabitants - are captured and expressed as a window into Irish heritage and history. Aquinas Board of Trustees member and event sponsor Mike Zagaroli said, “It’s not a play, where they are acting, but they’re reading parts in character.”

The recital will be performed by Sean and Ros Coyne of Tully Cross, Ireland. Tully Cross has been host to Aquinas’ international students for years. Zagaroli said, “Most of the students over the years, the last ten years anyway, have seen performances. Most of the Ireland students have seen a performance of Sean and Ros in Ireland.”

Zagaroli was himself among the first Aquinas students to participate in the Ireland program at its inception in 1973, and speaks fondly of the night’s performers. “I was with the first group," he said. "I’ve known Sean Coyne since then. Sean is a very good friend of mine."

This presents a unique opportunity for students not a part of the international programs to see, hear and take part in what many of their peers have experienced. Those who have visited Ireland with Aquinas will most likely recall these performers, and Zagaroli extends a formal invitation to those students to relive those memories on the night of the event. “We’ve made a personal invitation to all the Aquinas Ireland alums from over the years, and there’s 460 of them," he said. "The Irish Heritage has also invited their group."

Tickets for the event are $15 each, and are available online. Doors are open at 7 p.m., featuring music by the Conklin Ceili Band, an Irish folk group based in Grand Rapids. A cash bar will be available, as well as pub-style snack foods, additional music, and an hour for socializing following the completion of the performance. The social hour at the end of the night is conceived as a reunion for Aquinas Ireland students, though all are welcome to stay, including those who simply wish to hear more authentic Irish folk music. All proceeds from the event will go to the Gertrude Horgan Ireland Alumni Scholarship, which awards scholarships to students studying in Ireland.